Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Tesco Finest Salmon, Spinach and Lemon Fishcakes ultra-processed?

266g Fish preparations Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco Finest Salmon, Spinach and Lemon Fishcakes

Yes, it's ultra-processed

  1. 1 Unprocessed
  2. 2 Kitchen staple
  3. 3 Processed
  4. 4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

  • 30 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score B

Less processed fish preparations

Less processed isn't automatically healthier, so compare the labels for what matters to you, such as sugar or salt.

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Salmon 45%, Potato, What Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamine), Rapeseed Oil, Spinach 5%, Potato, Wheat Starch, Lemon Juice, Durum Wheat Semolina, Double Cream, Salt, Wheat Gluten, Yeast, Deactivated Yeast (Barley, Wheat), Black Pepper, Dextrose, Sugar, Parsley, Paprika, Lemon Oil, Colour (Paprika Extract), Black Pepper Extract

Additives: E160c Paprika extract

As written on the pack

Salmon (45%), Potato, What Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamine], Rapeseed Oil, Spinach (5%), Dried Potato, Wheat Starch, Lemon Juice, Durum Wheat Semolina, Double Cream, Salt, Wheat Gluten, Yeast, Deactivated Yeast (Barley, Wheat), Black Pepper, Dextrose, Sugar, Parsley, Paprika, Lemon Oil, Colour (Paprika Extract), Black Pepper Extract.

What makes it ultra-processed

Cosmetic additives

Added to change how the food looks, feels or tastes, not to keep it safe. A hallmark of ultra-processed food.

  • E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.

Substances rarely used in home kitchens

Refined or extracted in factories, such as syrups made from starch or isolated proteins. The other hallmark of ultra-processed food.

  • Dextrose Dextrose is pure glucose crystallised from starch-derived syrup.
  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Gluten Wheat gluten, sold as "vital wheat gluten", is the protein washed out of wheat flour.
4 ingredients that would only make it processed

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 208 fish preparations

From least to most processed, this one ranks 174th. 74% of the fish preparations here are ultra-processed.

Ranked by NOVA group, then by the number of ultra-processing signs, additives and ingredients. Our ordering, not part of NOVA.

All 208 fish preparations, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5054775579068, last edited 27 March 2026), available under the Open Database License. If something is wrong or the recipe has changed, you can correct it there.
  • Photo: Open Food Facts contributors, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • The NOVA group is an automated estimate from crowdsourced data: a missing or mistyped ingredient can change it.
  • NOVA measures processing, not nutrition. For nutrition, Open Food Facts gives this product a Nutri-Score of B (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.